Morgan Library & Museum
The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th Street to the north. The Morgan Library & Museum is composed of several structures. The main building was designed by Charles McKim of the firm of McKim, Mead and White, with an annex designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris. A 19th-century Italianate brownstone house at 231 Madison Avenue, built by Isaac Newton Phelps, is also part of the grounds. The museum and library also contains a glass entrance building designed by Renzo Piano and Beyer Blinder Belle. The main building and its interior is a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark, while the house at 231 Madison Avenue is a New York City landmark.
The library's main building | |
Interactive fullscreen map | |
Former name | Pierpont Morgan Library |
|---|---|
| Established | 1906 (private library) March 28, 1924 (public institution) |
| Location | 225 Madison Avenue (at East 36th Street), Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°44′57″N 73°58′53″W |
| Type | museum and library |
| Collection size | 350,000 |
| Visitors | 274,000 (fiscal year 2019) |
| Founder | J. P. Morgan |
| Director | Colin B. Bailey |
| Architect | Charles Follen McKim (main building) Benjamin Wistar Morris (main building annex) Isaac Newton Phelps (231 Madison Avenue) Renzo Piano and Beyer Blinder Belle (expansion) |
| Public transit access | Subway: at Grand Central–42nd Street at 33rd Street Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M34 SBS, M34A SBS, M42, Q32 |
| Website | themorgan |
J. Pierpont Morgan Library | |
| Location | 225 Madison Avenue at East 36th Street Manhattan, New York City |
| Built | 1900–06 |
| Architect | Charles Follen McKim |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000544 |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.000434 |
| NYCL No. | 0239, 1119, 2114 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | November 13, 1966 |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
| Designated NYCL | May 17, 1966 (exterior) March 23, 1982 (interior) February 26, 2002 (Phelps Stokes–J. P. Morgan Jr. House) |
The site was formerly occupied by residences of the Phelps family, one of which banker J. P. Morgan had purchased in 1880. The Morgan Library was founded in 1906 to house Morgan's private library, which included manuscripts and printed books, as well as his collection of prints and drawings. The main building was constructed between 1902 and 1906 for $1.2 million. The library was made a public institution in 1924 by J. P. Morgan's son John Pierpont Morgan Jr., in accordance with his father's will, and the annex was constructed in 1928. The glass entrance building was added when Morgan Library & Museum was renovated in 2006.
The Morgan Library and Museum contains a collection of illuminated manuscripts, including those of the Morgan Bible, Morgan Beatus, Hours of Catherine of Cleves, Farnese Hours, Morgan Black Hours, and Codex Glazier. The manuscript collection also contains authors' original manuscripts, as well as a musical manuscript collection that is second in size only behind the Library of Congress. The Morgan contains a large collection of incunabula, prints, and drawings of European artists, as well as many examples of fine bookbinding. The collection still includes some Old Master paintings collected by Morgan, although these have never been the collection's focus.